Stabilizing a student’s living situation is often the best way to help them thrive academically.
For Wilson, it was life changing.
At 16, Wilson risked his life to travel 1,800 miles from Guatemala to Maryland to live with an uncle he’d never met. He says it was the only way he could keep his sister and grandparents from starvation and still finish school. Wilson enrolled at Wheaton High School and the WHS Wellness Center where he joined the afterschool Knight Time program. He heard it offered academic help plus fun. Wilson wanted to be a kid sometimes, not always an adult. His grueling days began at 6:00 am with homework, then school and the Knight Time program. Then he worked in a restaurant until 11:00 pm, riding the bus home late at night to sleep for a few hours before doing it all over again. Over the summer, his uncle moved away and left Wilson to fend for himself. Now 17, he was working around the clock to survive.
In September, when he didn’t show up for school, his Wellness Center Case Manager Angélica Vargas and his school counselor knew something was wrong.
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